The Apprentice (UK series five)

The Apprentice UK

◄ ►  Series Five

The Candidates Name Left Show       Yasmina Siadatan Week 12 Kate Walsh Week 12 Debra Barr Week 11 Lorraine Tighe Week 11 James McQuillan Week 11 Howard Ebison Week 10 Ben Clarke Week 9 Mona Lewis Week 8 Philip Taylor Week 7 Noorul Choudhury Week 6 Kimberly Davis Week 5 Paula Jones Week 4 Majid Nagra Week 3 Rocky Andrews Week 2 Anita Shah Week 1 Adam Freeman Pre-series Hired Runner-up Fired Resigned

Series Five of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2009 from 25 March to 7 June on BBC One,^[1] and is the last series to feature Margaret Mountford as one of the advisors to Lord Sugar (then Sir Alan at time of broadcast), after announcing her decision to leave the role and continue her education. Auditions and interviews took place during July 2008 in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham,^[2] though the sixteenth candidate who secured a place on the show was forced to drop out before recording due to personal reasons,^[3] and thus could not be replaced.^[4] In total, fifteen candidates took part for this series,^[5] and the two teams were named Empire and Ignite, with Yasmina Siadatan winning the series.

Two new editions of specials that had featured during the previous series, were aired alongside the 2009 series during the final weeks - "The Final Five" on 3 June (followed broadcasting of Week 11), and "Why I Fired Them" on 5 June. In addition, the final episode was aired on 7 June due to ITV airing live coverage of the 2010 World Cup Group 6 qualifying match between England & Andorra on 10 June that year.

Candidates

Weekly results

     The candidate was on the winning team; for Week 11, they managed to pass the interview stage.

     The candidate was on the losing team.

     The candidate was hired and won The Apprentice.

     The candidate was the runner-up.

     The candidate won as project manager on his/her team.

     The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team.

     The candidate was brought to the final boardroom.

     The candidate was fired.

     The candidate lost as project manager and was fired.

     The candidate left the competition before it started.

Episodes

Week 1: Scrubbing Up

• Original Air date: 25 March 2009
• Empire: Howard (Project Manager), Noorul, Philip, Rocky, James, Ben and Majid.
• Ignite: Mona (Project Manager), Kate, Anita, Debra, Yasmina, Paula, Lorraine and Kimberly.
• Task: Start up a cleaning company with a budget of £200. Most profit made, wins.^[6][7]
• Task Review: Empire decided to try car cleaning mainly, with half the boys focusing on one big minicab contract. The other 3 first tried shoe-shining in St Pancras railway station and made decent taking in an hour, but then went to help with the minicabs; together, they cleaned half the fleet and altogether made good sales, spending just over half the budget. Ignite, meanwhile, focused on just car-cleaning; half the girls earned well from cleaning 3 Hummer limos, but the others had their classic car contract cut short after 4 cars (out of 14), due to unsatisfactory cleaning. As a result, all the girls focused on on-the-kerb cleaning, which they had more success with. Ignite had slightly better sales than Empire, yet blew almost their entire budget, overspending on equipment.
• Result: Empire made a profit of £239, while Ignite made a profit of £160.55.
• Winner: Empire - By £78.45.
• Reward: Taught how to make cocktails by The Bar Wizards.
• Brought into the boardroom: Mona, Debra, and Anita
• Fired: Anita - For her poor management of the budget, not being able to recognise the overspend, and for failing to demonstrate any business acumen or initiative.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Gill Fielding, Rufus Hound and Carol Vorderman
• Notes:
  • Despite not feeling that Howard had been an especially good project manager, Sir Alan gave him credit for identifying the need to keep costs down, which proved vital for Empire. In contrast, he regarded Ignite's overspend as the key factor in the women's defeat.
  • Sir Alan seriously considered firing Debra and Mona for their performance on the task. While Debra was deemed responsible for her sub-team's poor work on the classic cars that effectively cut short an otherwise lucrative deal, and strongly criticised for trying to deny in the boardroom that she had repeatedly insulted and belittled the candidates who worked under her, Mona was criticised for showing little strategy, failing to understand wh the overspend on materials was damaging, and ignoring concerns from Kate and Lorraine on spending too much. Both women survived only because Sugar admired their fighting spirit.

Week 2: A Hungry Business

• Original Air date: 1 April 2009
• Empire: Rocky (Project Manager), Noorul, Howard, Philip, James, Ben and Majid.
• Ignite: Yasmina (Project Manager), Kate, Mona, Debra, Paula, Lorraine and Kimberly.
• Task: Provide a corporate catering services for top business professionals. Most profit made, wins.^[8]
• Task Review: Empire decided on a 2012 Olympics theme, with a different sandwich representing each of the five Olympic rings, but spent heavily on supplies; Ignite went with a Mediterranean theme and spent far more reasonably. Ignite won two lunchtime contracts and one more for an evening function. The girls, however, were accused of skimping on food and making mistakes in preparation (such as a chicken wrap not having chicken in it), which led to their evening contract being reduced by a third, but otherwise, their work went well. Empire's execution on the other hand was a total shambles; they failed to get any lunchtime contracts and had to sell their sandwiches to tourists on the streets of London, where they had some success despite the ridiculous outfits that Rocky had them wear. It all went down-hill at the evening event, however, when they made the badly received decision to dress in Ancient Greek togas, heavily over-spending on props and décor, and only provided small portions of food; as a result, they had their evening contract halved.
• Result: Empire made a loss of £160.76, while Ignite made a profit of £651.43
• Winner: Ignite - By £812.19
• Reward: Lesson in learning to play polo.
• Brought into the boardroom: Rocky, Howard and James
• Fired: Rocky - For making a series of "immature mistakes", losing money despite his skill-set, and for bringing Howard back into the boardroom instead of Majid or Noorul.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Gregg Wallace and Nick Hewer
• Notes:
  • When Sir Alan enquired about Empire's evening contract being halving, Nick commented that the amount they still earned was "more than generous". If the team had managed to secure the full amount, it would not have been enough to beat Ignite, as Empire would have finished the task with a profit of just £214.24.
  • During his appearance on You're Fired, Rocky was questioned as to why he did not bring back Majid or Noorul, both of whom were strongly implied to be deserving of being fired because of their performance. While he admitted that he should have took back Noorul for taking a complete backseat on the task, he felt that Majid did not deserve the blame for the task, citing that despite his poor theme, the togas that earned the most criticism had been Rocky's idea. Rocky was not shown to be fired with regret in the main episode, but it was revealed on You're Fired that he was, with Sir Alan adding that he felt Rocky had appeared on the show a little too early in his career. In an exit interview that was posted on The Apprentice website, Rocky commented that either of the pair should have been brought back because they did "nothing all task", though added that they were not the only ones.^[9]
  • James came under heavy criticism for making some ridiculous claims in his CV, and for his disrespectful behaviour towards Rocky and Howard in the final boardroom, with Sir Alan even calling him a "plonker". However he was spared because Sir Alan felt he was not directly at fault for the loss. However, the panel on You're Fired near-unanimously disagreed with this, believing he should have been fired for his disrespectful behaviour, despite Rocky's many errors.

Week 3: Survival of the Fittest

• Original Air date: 8 April 2009
• Empire: James (Project Manager), Kate, Howard, Ben, Kimberly and Majid.
• Ignite: Debra (Project Manager), Noorul, Philip, Mona, Yasmina, Paula and Lorraine.
• Task: Create an original piece of portable home fitness equipment along with a poster campaign for it, then pitch it to three retailers. Most orders received, wins.^[10]
• Task Review: On Empire, after doing some market research, James decided that most products at the £29.99 price point tended to be simple in design, and instructed his design team to make such a product. However, Ben, who was heading the team, ignored James and instead produced a small multi-gym kit that was badly received by the potential retailers and felt to be a poor alternative to higher-end home gym systems. Ignite went for a simple product, designed by Philip, that consisted of an exercise ball with a built-in plastic attachment that could be used for aerobics. Empire received orders from only one retailer, whilst Ignite secured orders from all three; one retailer, John Lewis, contributed to this greatly with a high volume ordered, thanks to an exclusivity agreement arranged with them.
• Result: Empire received 500 orders, while Ignite received 10,180 orders.
• Winner: Ignite - By 9,680 orders
• Reward: A private performance by Katherine Jenkins
• Brought into the boardroom: James, Ben and Majid
• Fired: Majid - For being seen as peripheral figure who made little contribution to the task, not asking for a bigger role, and for his poor theme suggestion in the previous task.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Michelle Mone, Trevor Nelson and Carole Malone
• Notes:
  • Despite leading his team to the worst defeat in the show's history at the time - a near 20:1 margin in Ignite's favour - James was not fired, largely down to Margaret telling Sir Alan that aside from not properly supervising the product design, his leadership had otherwise been competent. However, he was warned that this feedback was the only reason he was allowed to continue. Likewise, despite the bad product design, ignoring James's instructions, refusing to accept responsibility and trying to shift blame onto James, Ben survived due to no-one else making much contribution during the design phase.
  • Although he was not seen as being responsible for the loss, Majid sealed his own fate when he admitted in the boardroom that he saw no reason to ask James for a larger role. Nick accused Majid of having no confidence in himself, and whilst Sir Alan acknowledged that it was early in the competition, he felt Majid had been given enough opportunities to contribute and was too much of a passenger.
  • For the second week in a row, the You're Fired panel and audience disagreed with Sir Alan's decision, with the consensus being that James should have been fired, and that even firing Ben would have been more justifiable than firing Majid. Despite indicating that he too disagreed with Sir Alan's decision, Nick Hewer said that Majid probably would not have lasted long either way.

Week 4: A Soap Opera

• Original Air date: 15 April 2009
• Empire: Paula (Project Manager), Kate, Debra, Yasmina, James and Ben.
• Ignite: Noorul (Project Manager), Howard, Philip, Mona, Lorraine and Kimberly.
• Task: Sell two brand new bath and beauty products made from natural ingredients, that stand out. Most profit made, wins.^[11]
• Task Review: Ignite produced soap bars and bath foam based on honeycomb. Their products were felt to be unattractive, particularly the soap bar, which disintegrated upon being tested in the shower. The team also suffered from a lack of direction from Noorul, meaning that while their Camden Town market sales were quite successful, their face-to-face teams had less success and they resorted to selling products as cheaply as 30p each by the end of the day. Empire's seaweed-based products were deemed to be better, and Paula's leadership was also considered effective. Unfortunately, the sub-team manufacturing the products made a serious blunder by spending over £700 on essential oils due to thinking that 3% of the formula meant 3g of oil would be required (rather than the 450g actually added to the mix), and then mixing up cedarwood oil with the much more expensive sandalwood oil. Empire only realised their mistake after Nick Hewer pointed it out, and failed to recoup costs despite good custom that enabled them to increase prices.
• Result: Ignite made a profit of £493.97, while Empire made a loss of £68.04.
• Winner: Ignite - By £562.01
• Reward: Dinner at a luxury sushi and sake restaurant, and learnt how to make sushi.
• Brought into the boardroom: Paula, Yasmina and Ben
• Fired: Paula - For mixing up the oils that caused the overspend of the fragrances, admitting she was bad at costings, and for being primarily responsible for the loss as Project Manager.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Sarah Halton, Andy Parsons and Jo Elvin
• Notes:
  • Having become frustrated with the indecisiveness of both Noorul and Kimberly, Phillip had a fierce argument with the latter whilst creating the packaging and promotional material for the team's products, foreshadowing the troubles between Phillip and the other candidates, particularly Lorraine, in the weeks ahead. In The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them Sir Alan stated Noorul should have been fired as his team won by default.
  • Sir Alan commented that, although Paula had managed her team well, it was a irrelevant factor since Empire had lost money, with Nick commenting that if her team had used cedarwood and not sandalwood in their products, they would have won the task with a profit of £590. While the final three were felt to be equally at fault, Sugar decided that Paula carried responsibility as the team's leader. In her taxi interview, she was quoted as saying "I've not gone because I've been a terrible team leader or a cheat or a liar. I've gone over an error."
  • A majority of the You're Fired! audience combined with the panel disagreed with Sir Alan's decision for the third week in a row. Though it was generally agreed that Paula and Yasmina were at fault for the sandalwood error, it was also felt that they had both shown enough potential to continue, and that Ben should have been fired, as he did not even try to scrutinise the figures. Even then, however, the panel felt that Noorul was far more deserving of being fired than any member of Empire.

Week 5: The Advertising Challenge

• Original Air date: 22 April 2009
• Empire: Kate (Project Manager), Debra, Yasmina, James and Ben.
• Ignite: Kimberly (Project Manager), Noorul, Howard, Philip, Mona and Lorraine.^[12]
• Task: Produce a brand identity for a new breakfast cereal, including a television advert and original character, then pitch it to a panel of advertising experts. Best concept, wins.^[13]
• Task Review: Empire decided on a pirate theme, and branded their cereal "Treasure Flakes," creating a pirate parrot character called Captain Squawk to go along with it. On Ignite, Philip suggested their cereal's theme be around pants, and this evolved into a cereal called "Wake Up Call," with a character called "Pants Man" who was supposed to point out that only superheroes are allowed to wear their pants outside their other clothing, and that eating Wake Up Call could prevent people making that mistake. The Treasure Flakes box was felt to be somewhat overcrowded by experts, though Debra gave a well-received pitch, even impressing Sir Alan. The experts questioned whether Empire had considered just who their target audience were, but Kate gave clear answers for their decisions about the marketing. Ignite were criticised for having an incomplete box due to not briefing their graphics designer in time, and Mona's presentation style annoyed the audience. The "Pantsman" idea was generally considered muddled, though the technical quality of the accompanying TV ad was praised. However, in the boardroom Sir Alan branded Ignite's campaign "total, absolute garbage" and declared Empire to be the clear winners.
• Winner: Empire - For having a better brand, and for providing a better pitch.
• Reward: Yoga and laughter therapy session.
• Brought into the boardroom: Kimberly, Philip and Lorraine
• Fired: Kimberly - For her poor leadership, refusing to pitch despite her marketing background, and for bringing Lorraine back into the boardroom mainly for personal reasons, instead of Noorul.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Jenny Eclair, Mary Portas and Robert Senior
• Notes
  • Philip came very close to getting fired, not only being responsible for the poorly conceived idea, but also for his attitude towards his teammates on the task, but was spared as Sir Alan felt that Kimberly was more at fault, on the basis that she failed on a task she was more than qualified to lead, describing her as the "Wizard of Oz", in that "she looked impressive, but behind the curtain, there was nothing special". In his autobiography, Sugar remarked that, with hindsight, firing Phillip would have also been justifiable.
  • While Lorraine was accused by Kimberly for being disruptive during the task, Sir Alan was somewhat more critical of her, chiding her for hypocrisy after she accused her team's idea of not fitting the brief, despite suggesting a brand that contradicted the task's specifications. Despite this, he felt she was not responsible for the loss and implied very early on in the boardroom that she would not be facing dismissal.
  • Although it was not explicit, it was hinted that several others had not made a significant contribution. In particular, it was implied that Noorul would have been fired had he been brought back, both for taking a backseat on the task, and his awful leadership in the previous task.

Week 6: Bric-a-Brac Race

• Original Air date: 29 April 2009
• Empire: Ben (Project Manager), Noorul, Debra, Yasmina and James.
• Ignite: Philip (Project Manager), Kate, Howard, Mona and Lorraine.
• Task: Sell a miscellaneous assortment of ten items, including a "hidden gem", on the streets of London. Most profit made, wins.^[14]
• Task Review: Both teams got stuck into selling without spending a great deal of time trying to identify the higher-value items, and Empire in particular failed to realise that the rules specified that the teams would be measured on the profitability of each sale compared to the item's list value. To make matters worse, Ben gave his sub-team seven of the ten items to value while giving James and Yasmina only three, causing his sub team to waste more time trying to sell. Towards the end of the day, with time running out, Ben sold several valuable items at a loss. Empire also lost a considerable amount on the bicycle and the skeleton, both of which were sold by Noorul. Ignite managed a modest profit on most of their sales, but committed a serious error by selling the rug for virtually nothing, cancelling out all their profits and taking them into a deficit.
• Result: Empire made a loss of £169, while Ignite made a loss of £34.
• Winner: Ignite - By £135.
• Reward: Dinner, featuring beef and truffles, at a luxury restaurant.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ben, Noorul and Debra.
• Fired: Noorul - For a consistent lack of contribution throughout many of the tasks, his arrogant behaviour, selling the bike and the skeleton at a huge loss, being disrespectful towards Ben in the boardroom, making several excuses for his failures and for his weak and ineffective leadership in the fourth task.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Al Murray, Hilary Kay and Alvin Hall
• Notes:
  • Both teams were given ten items which they had to value and sell, including: a skeleton, a deceptively valuable Indian rug, a bicycle, a box of second-hand books and a commode. This episode marks the first time in the show's history that both teams lost money.
  • During the sale of the rug, Lorraine debated with Philip as to whether they should have got a better price for it. Her concern was justified in the boardroom after it was revealed that the underselling of the rug had completely wiped any profit that had been made by Ignite, earning them what Sir Alan described as "a fool's victory".
  • Ben initially chose to bring back James alongside Noorul for the final boardroom, much to the visible shock of both James and Sir Alan, but decided to take back Debra instead after she demanded to be brought back, a first in the show's history. As Ben was dubbed as "a broken man" at this stage in the process and was blamed for his failure to understand the rules that resulted in the near-total fault, Sir Alan, who suspected he planned to bring back James for personal reasons before Debra made her demands, warned him that he was on his last chance.
  • After Debra attempted to claim sole credit for her all of her sub-team's sales, Nick commented that Ben had been a part of the book sale, causing her to fly into a rage and accuse him as a liar, while lashing out at Ben and Noorul when they challenged her. Sir Alan lambasted her for this, informing her that any point she had should be brought back to him, before later giving her a clear warning that if "you ever open your mouth like that again, don't even bother to come back in this boardroom". Furthermore, had the British version of the show operated in a similar manner to the American original, Debra's demands to be brought back would have earned her an automatic dismal from the process.
  • One of the factors that contributed to Sir Alan's decision to fire Noorul, was that several candidates stated, but not referred to him directly, that they were outraged he had not been in the boardroom when they had been on previous tasks, due to his consistent habit of going under the radar. The more decisive factor, however, came when Noorul attempted to harm Ben's chances of remaining in the competition by accusing him of only having entered the competition in pursuit of fame, only for Ben to retaliate by accusing him of being desperate, thus sealing his fate.

Week 7: Heading North

• Original Air date: 6 May 2009
• Empire: Mona (Project Manager), Howard, Debra and James.
• Ignite: Lorraine (Project Manager), Kate, Philip, Yasmina and Ben.
• Task: Travel to North West England, select two new innovative products, then sell to trade. Most sales made, wins.^[15]
• Task Review: From the 12 available items, neither team selected products that were ideally suited to the two retailers that Sir Alan had laid on for the teams to pitch to; Empire selected a "Selk Bag" (sleeping bag suit)^[16][17] and the "Lovers' Lead" – a dog lead for two people to share – while Ignite selected a bag-carrying attachment for bicycles, and a set of cat playhouses. Empire failed to secure any sales from the main two potential customers, and Ignite had success with only one of them, and so both relied on sales made on the second day of the task, when the teams themselves sought out companies to pitch the products to. Empire sold well thanks to a large contribution by Mona, while Ignite had sales only from Lorraine and Yasmina: the others sold nothing between them.
• Result: Empire made sales of £4,500, while Ignite made sales of over £1,000.
• Winner: Empire - By over £3,500
• Reward: A luxurious helicopter ride over London at sunset.
• Brought into the boardroom: Lorraine, Kate and Philip.
• Fired: Philip - For not selling a single item, showing "bravado" and arrogant behaviour, taking no responsibility for his actions, his constant negativity towards the other candidates, and for being openly disrespectful to Sir Alan in the final boardroom.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Ruby Max, Mark Frith and Kavita Oberoi
• Notes:
  • For this episode, the candidates found themselves operating within Liverpool, Manchester and Chester.
  • Despite failing to sell anything himself, Ben managed to set up an appointment at the head offices of pet superstore chain, Pets at Home, for Lorraine and Yasmina, which accounted for most of Ignite's sales income on the second day. However, Nick commented that Ben, Kate and Philip going back to London without a sale to any of their names was like getting into one of the cat playhouses and joining the Battle of Britain "they haven't got a hope in hell's chance".
  • In the boardroom, Lorraine revealed that Philip and Kate were in a relationship and accused them of conspiring against her, leading Sir Alan to question them on whether they had decided to take a backseat to make Lorraine look bad. The two denied this was the case, and Kate even criticised Philip's performance. A fierce argument took place between Kate and Lorraine at the apartment, with Kate accusing Lorraine of "hitting below the belt", while Lorraine defended it as legitimate and re-iterated her accusations. Both Kate and Philip eventually began a relationship, but claimed it did not truly start until the show had finished.
  • While Sir Alan was convinced that Philip had no place in his organisation because of his attitude and negativity, especially after he snapped at him and openly accused him of not being given enough credit on his performances despite being reminded of his responsibility for "Pantsman", he still had concerns over Lorraine's behaviour and tendency to alienate the others. As for Kate, despite her failure to sell and the criticism she drew throughout the task, Sir Alan gave her a second chance, primarily because of her past performance prior to the task.
  • The panel on You're Fired and almost the entire audience completely agreed with the decision, with one panellist saying that if they had behaved the way Philip did in the boardroom, they would have been fired regardless of the circumstances. In an exit interview that he made, Philip remarked that his behaviour had been "pathetic", and that despite having called the decision a "joke" when he left, Sir Alan had been correct to fire him.^[18]

Week 8: Cool Margate

• Original Air date: 13 May 2009
• Empire: Debra (Project Manager), Howard, Mona and James.
• Ignite: Yasmina (Project Manager), Kate, Ben and Lorraine.
• Task: Re-brand the seaside resort of Margate, Kent, by producing a series of posters and leaflets, then pitching them, to be scored afterwards. Highest score, wins.^[19]
• Task Review: Empire decided to promote Margate as a gay resort, playing on the town's existing gay scene, while Ignite decided to market it as a family resort. The locals and industry experts felt that while Ignite's idea wasn't hugely inventive and didn't take any risks, it was well executed. Empire's by comparison was felt to be a more daring idea, but very badly executed due to the incomplete leaflet (which Empire falsely claimed was due to them leaving space for local businesses to advertise) and poorly designed, over-crowded posters. Ignite received a score of 7/10 for their pitch, whereas Empire only received 4/10.
• Winner: Ignite - For a better executed promotion.
• Reward: Lotus Exige Driving Day at Thruxton Circuit.^[20]
• Brought into the boardroom: Debra, Mona and James.
• Fired: Mona, with regret - For a lack of full effort due to her thoughts on the theme, and for failing to demonstrate any skills other than selling.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Claire Balding, Jason Manford and Martine Ainsworth-Wells
• Notes:
  • Although Ignite won the task, the team dynamic was not harmonious; Lorraine was particularly disruptive in opposing some suggestions, culminating in Yasmina shouting at her to be quiet. In the boardroom, Margaret brought this up and Sugar hinted that had Ignite lost, Lorraine would have been fired. Kate later confirmed after the series had finished, that Lorraine had gotten drunk the night before the task, and was forced to miss several hours of filming the next day as a direct result.
  • While Sugar indirectly praised Howard's work ethic in this task, he was more critical of James'. Unimpressed with his argument that he had overseen the photoshoot for the team's brochure, he accused James of jumping on that task to avoid being part of the key decisions.
  • Although Debra appeared to be at most fault for the loss, Sir Alan spared her since she had taken a risk with her idea, whereas Mona had taken a backseat once the theme had been decided. On You're Fired, the panel and Mona herself agreed that she deserved to be fired; Mona admitted she was not very creative which played a big part in her firing.

Week 9: Baby Love

• Original Air date: 20 May 2008
• Empire: James (Project Manager), Debra, Yasmina and Ben.
• Ignite: Lorraine (Project Manager), Kate and Howard.
• Task: Interview suppliers of baby equipment, select two products, then sell them on to potential customers at the country's biggest baby show. Most sales made, wins.^[21]
• Task Review: Ignite chose a padded toddler helmet and a travel pushchair, while Empire selected a home birthing pool and an expensive hand-made rocking horse, fiercely pushed by both Debra and Ben. Although they faced trouble when they found their travel pushchair was being sold elsewhere at the show for a cheaper price, Ignite came out firmly on top with sales, compared to Empire's, which was mostly blamed on the team's failure to sell any rocking horses.
• Result: Ignite made sales of £1,600 (approx), while Empire made sales of £722
• Winner: Ignite - By £878.
• Reward: A caricature of themselves drawn by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe.
• Brought into the boardroom: James, Ben and Debra
• Fired: Ben - For aggressively lobbying for the rocking-horse and then failing to sell it, and failing to address criticism of his arrogant behaviour.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Hugh Dennis, Michael Ball and Laura Tenison
• Notes:
  • In the boardroom, Ben was brought to task over his boasts about achieving a scholarship to Sandhurst, something he had done repeatedly throughout the series. Sir Alan called him out for constantly falling back on this, and also pointed to Series Three candidate Paul Callaghan (who, unlike Ben, actually attended Sandhurst) and his infamously poor management as evidence that the scholarship ultimately had little bearing on the show.
  • Despite surviving the boardroom both James and Debra were warned that they were on thin ice; James for his poor track record and laid-back management, and Debra for her hand in picking the rocking horse and her ruthless behaviour, though she seemed more humble in the boardroom than on previous occasions, and certainly more so than Ben.

Week 10: Car Crash TV

• Original Air date: 27 May 2009
• Empire: Yasmina (Project Manager), Debra and James.
• Ignite: Howard (Project Manager), Kate and Lorraine.
• Task: Select a range of products and sell them live on a TV shopping channel. Most sales made, wins.^[22]
• Task Review: Empire chose a range of low-price products ranging from £14.99 to £29.99, including a remote control car, a gardening tool, hair clips and a head-wrap. They sold a large volume of goods, and Debra's selling of the head-wraps in particular was praised. Yasmina and James, however, made a faux pas by continually stating a price that was wrong; the team went for more of a mixture of products, including a lower-priced craft set and infra-red "air guitar", and a shallow fryer and leather jacket priced at £139.99 and £149.99 respectively. Despite their inclusion of higher value items, Ignite's sales were not as good as Empire's.
• Result: Ignite had sales of £1376.73, while Empire had sales of £1541.88.
• Winner: Empire - By £165.15
• Reward: A private flight with an aerobatics team.
• Brought into the boardroom: Howard, Lorraine, Kate (the remaining three in the team)
• Fired: Howard - For not taking enough risks, lacking presence in prior tasks, and for failing to demonstrate any truly exceptional qualities.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Margaret Mountford, Rufus Hound, and Hasfa Abubacker
• Notes:
  • After Empire's win, Yasmina became the first Apprentice candidate to hold a three win record as an individual Project Manager (Claire Young and Lee McQueen from the previous series also had three victories as Project Manager, but held the position jointly on the third occasion). This made her not only the most successful Project Manager in this series, but also of all time; Helen Milligan in series 7, equalled this record, but it has not been exceeded as of yet in the show's history, as no candidate has been Project Manager more than three times as such.
  • On You're Fired, the decision of firing Howard was not supported by both the panel (including Margaret Mountford) and the mass majority of the audience, with the panel all agreeing that Lorraine should have been fired instead. While Howard was not shown to be fired with regret on the main episode, it was revealed on You're Fired that he was.
  • As Kate had to attend her grandmother's funeral the day after this task, the subsequent boardroom scenes were completed the day before the Interviews stage was to take place.

Week 11: Interviews

• Original Air date: 3 June 2009
• Semi-Finalists: Kate, Lorraine, James, Yasmina, Debra
• Task: The five remaining candidates must undergo a series of interviews by four of Sir Alan's business colleagues.^[23]
• Candidate Reviews: Kate was felt to be the best all-round candidate, but there were questions about her being "too perfect" and she was also accused of being too controlled and robotic. Yasmina also received praise from the interviewers, but her motives for wanting to work for Sir Alan were called into question, and she was criticised for not knowing the turnover of her own restaurant, and also for getting her mother to re-mortgage her home to finance the restaurant's start-up costs. James was accused of not being serious enough, and for having a CV that was incomprehensible to anyone outside the communications industry. Debra earned fierce criticism, ironically enough from her own character references, for being difficult to work with due to her being extremely aggressive and bad-tempered. However, Sir Alan realised she was extremely skilled - other candidates claimed she was a "business expert", which was particularly impressive given her relative youth. Lorraine fared the worst, as her relatively sparse CV came in for criticism and she also stood accused of being hard to work with; she was also found to have overstated her previous employment term by a year, which she claimed was a typographical error, but the interviewers accused her of lying and attempting to pad out her CV.
• Final Decision: In the boardroom, Sir Alan came to the conclusion that James' corporate background and failure to take things seriously made him completely unsuitable for the job; he was the first to be fired. Lorraine went second, after Sir Alan decided that despite whatever intuition she had displayed, he couldn't overlook the poor reports from the interviewers and her former team-mates. Of the remaining candidates, Sir Alan had serious issues with Debra's attitude and Yasmina's motives, but found no such major faults with Kate and so made her the first finalist. Choosing the second was difficult, but Sir Alan reluctantly fired Debra in what he said was virtually a split-decision, making Yasmina the other finalist.
• Fired:
  • James, with regret - For being a "corporate" person, his inability to take things seriously and for having the weakest track record out of the remaining candidates.
  • Lorraine - For being unable to communicate clearly to the executives, as well as being too aggressive towards her former colleagues.
  • Debra - For being too aggressive and too difficult to work with.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: James Caan, Jo Brand and Jane Moore
• Notes:
  • James' firing had a major impact on the remaining four candidates, who all had tears in their eyes when he left, so Sir Alan sent them out of the boardroom to cool down before continuing.
  • While Sir Alan had given serious consideration to just firing James and letting the other four candidates all proceed to the final much like the previous year, he chose against this after discussing with Nick and Margaret about Lorraine's track record during the intermission after James's firing, both of whom agreed she was a far weaker candidate of the remaining candidates and thus would have hindered whoever she was paired up with in the final.
  • Sir Alan remarked that deciding on a final two from Debra, Kate, and Yasmina was very hard, but despite his reasons for firing her, he left Debra a parting remark - "Keep in touch."
  • This episode is technically marked as the first treble firing in the show's history, as while there had been three candidate who had left in the third series, Katie Hopkins mostly withdrew from the process rather being fired.

Week 12: The Final

• Original Air date: 7 June 2009
• Finalists: Kate and Yasmina
• Kate's team: Debra, Rocky, Ben and Kimberly.
• Yasmina's team: Howard, Philip, James and Lorraine.
• Task: Create, brand and market a new box of chocolates, with a 30-second television advert, then pitch it in front of a panel of over 100 business and chocolate experts. Sir Alan decides the winner, based on the effort in the task.
• Task Review: Kate and her team quickly chose a romantic theme of 'for him, for her, to share..." for their chocolates, which they named 'Intimate' before Debra criticized the name, saying it sounded like feminine sanitary product; Kate changed it to 'Choc d'amour' as a result. They worked with Master Chocolatier Paul A Young to develop a high quality product with flavours including Strawberry & Champagne, Sea-salted Caramel, Passionfruit, and Honey & Lemongrass. Meanwhile, Yasmina's team initially chose to theme their chocolates towards males, but after negative feedback, they decided on an unconventionally flavoured budget priced box called 'Coco Electric' which they developed with Gerard Coleman of L'Artisan du Chocolat. The design of Yasmina's box, the low price of £6, and the commercial were well praised, but the low quality of the product and poor flavours, which included strawberry & basil and chili & popping candy, were strongly criticised. However, while Kate's presentation and flavours were praised, her product was felt to be too expensive for the mass market at £13. In the end, Sir Alan decided that Yasmina was the better candidate of the two with their product.
• Runner-Up: Kate - For being "too perfect and robotic", and for pricing the chocolates at a high retail price
• Winner: Yasmina - For being more of a risk taker, and for a good, business promotion of her chocolates, despite the bad quality of the taste of the chocolates
• Notes:
  • As ITV was to air live coverage of the 2010 World Cup Group 6 qualifying match between England & Andorra on 10 June that year, and thus would have competed with the show in its usual timeslot, the BBC opted to avoid this by broadcast the final episode during a Sunday evening timeslot instead.
  • Sir Alan claimed his final decision to be the hardest, stating that if it was only Kate and she was being compared amongst the previous winners of The Apprentice for a job, she would certainly win it. However, Yasmina proved a more attractive prospect upon showing her willingness to take risks.

Criticism and controversy

Candidates

Adam Freeman

The series initially was to begin with sixteen candidates, but in the end only ended up with fifteen. This was because the sixteenth contestant Adam Freeman departed from the show, citing family reasons for doing so.^[24] In the first episode, Sir Alan Sugar described Freeman (whom he did not name) as having "bottled it". However, Freeman denied he had bottled it and went on to describe his decision as "the best decision I made in my life".^[25][26]

Mona Lewis and Howard Ebison

On 19 April 2009, it was reported that contestant Mona Lewis made homophobic statements during the filming of the series and reportedly offended openly gay contestant Howard Ebison. After Howard suggested re branding a location as a gay resort Lewis reportedly stated that she would not want her six-year-old son to meet a homosexual man.^[27] Both Mona and Howard however denied any allegations of homophobia with the former stating she "wasn't homophobic, just boring".^[28]

Debra Barr

It was reported that contestant Debra Barr had a breast enhancement to increase her self-esteem and increased her bust from an A cup to a D cup at the age of 17. She was also unpopular at Beacon School in Surrey according to The Sun,^[29] there were also allegations of her being in a sex tape but she denied the allegations saying that "If there had been a video it would have been all over YouTube by now wouldn't it?"^[30]

Rocky Andrews

Former contestant Rocky Andrews who was fired by Sir Alan in the second week was reported to claim that he was fired off the show because he was Northern and that Southerners tend to look down on people from the North. He also claimed that his role as project manager in the catering task was hindered by people from London refusing to do business with fellow contestant Phillip Taylor who is also a Geordie.^[31] Andrews also claimed he was fired because of his age, being twenty one at the time.^[32]

In addition, Rocky also said in an interview with entertainment channel Holy Moly that he was fired because he felt that Sir Alan was prejudiced against Northerners as the other winners had been Southerners, in reality though Series 2 winner Michelle Dewberry was the only winner of the show to be born in the North of England.

Lorraine Tighe

After leaving The Apprentice, former contestant Lorraine Tighe was dubbed a "broken woman" by the Mirror who also reported she was victimized by other candidates branding her "crazy" and an "animal". The Mirror also reported that she was a swinger who paid for her boyfriend to have sex with a prostitute in Amsterdam while she watched.^[33] In addition she became the victim of hate groups on Facebook where four pages were devoted to calling her an “ugly bitch” and people describing how they would like to punch her.^[34]

Results

Final Decision and Yasmina Siadatan

The responses to Sir Alan's decision to name Yasmina Siadatan as the winner were mixed: The Mirror stated that "the wrong candidate won."^[35] The Times merely noted that "the final, much like this series, was brisk, efficient and quite boring",^[36] and in the blogosphere Edwin's Raisin declared it "all a bit much of a muchness in the end: both contestants impeccably competent in their performance of the final task and both fully accepting of the hype that Sir Alan is the fiercest, most successful businessman the world has ever known."^[37]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[38]

Specials

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Apprentice (UK)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sir Alan Sugar

• The Apprentice at BBC Online